Anyone have any experience (good or bad) with these outfits?
Great reels. Love everything I get from Penn.
Love my 3000 for inshore. Best reel I own, and will definitely buy some more.
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I own a 4000, 6000, and 8000. Love them and have been putting the 6 and 8000 to test on sharks up to 125lbs.
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The smaller reels are good bang for the buck for inshore use but I wouldn’t go any larger than the 5000 for any type of serious fishing. Plinking around here and there would be fine but if you’re looking for big, heavy duty, hard fighting fish, don’t expect Stella or Torque performance out of a $100 reel. I’ve seen my share of beat up battles resulting from overloading them with lots of pressure. The bail arm on all of my Battles (and most of my friends’) have loosened up and gotten wiggly after a little while, unlike most of the other midrange spinning reels I have and have used.
That being said, if I were to put together another combo for inshore use, it would be a Penn Battle. Hard to beat for the price. I’d also consider looking at the Fin Nor Inshore series.
I have 6 ranging from the 3000 to the 6000. I am pleased with all of them. I have them paired with St Croix rods, they make a great combo. The 3 and 4000s I use inshore and the 6000s are used offshore and for cobia.
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Thanks everyone…they sound like a good option for the money.
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The battles are great. Not anything like the older penn spinning reels, much smoother. Given the choice ill still take a shimano over a penn.
The battles are great. Not anything like the older penn spinning reels, much smoother. Given the choice ill still take a shimano over a penn.
most of you know of my falling out with penn spinners a few years ago.I kept snapping the cheap junk handles on the 750 / 850’s fishing them for grouper and snapper. I had a local tackle shop refuse to fix them under warranty…told me they were not designed for that??? WTF were they designed for then? So it has been Shimano Spheros 18000 FB’s since then with zero failures at all! I still fish just as hard as ever.
Bring on the Battles!! “Black Angus” on here stopped by with a battle 8000…I liked the feel of it and the drag was silky smooth. I had Jeremy at Atlantic Game and Tackle order me 3 of them (7000’s) and put them on 7’ Shimano spinning rods. After three trips catching dolphin, blackfin, AJ’s, grouper, 6 big Red Snappers, and a couple of 150 lb sharks, I can say that they are holding up just fine. I am running 50# power pro, with a 70# fluro topshot. The drags are simply awesome on these reels. I will be curios to see how they hold up long term, but for now, I can say that I will get more of these, 1/2 the price of a Saragosa or about 100 less than a Spheros. I will keep you posted
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I agree 100% with Paul and fishe and watched him fish his spheros first hand and I own a battle 2000, 3000,6000,8000 I’ve had the 8000 before they came to local tackle shops and have been through two of them, The one I have is rusting under the black paint. but other than that its been good. But I also fish pretty much every day!!! Caught everything from 250lb sharks to Mutton snappers!! My opinion would be Shimano all the way, much smoother reels and better long term I feel personally!! Good luck with it!!
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I have had a couple of Sargus’s and battles. I like the build and feel of both. The only problem I have with Penn reels is that they seem to “age” faster than some others. I take care of my gear, washing/drying after every trip out. The Penns seem to show wear and tear sooner and corrosion has been an issue I have not experienced on my Shimanos and Okumas. It won’t keep me from using them but, I hope they will continue to improve their resistance to corrosion, etc…
Just bought a 5000 and 6000. Great reels especially for the price. West Marine had them combo’d for 99 bucks. Can’t beat that.
191 Bay Scout
Great reels! I own several battles and other penn reels. My favorite for inshore I would say. Good luck.
Sundance K16
I like the shimano symetres… I’ve fished side by side with battles and I just like my symetre, but then again my symetre was on a way nicer rod…
I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about the Battles, but I’ve been a little bit disappointed in mine. The drag seems fine and the reel is pretty smooth, though not as smooth as a Shimano. The biggest issue I’ve seen is that under load, the whole rotor wobbles. You really notice it when you’re fishing a vibrating lure or fighting a fish. For the same money, the Shimano Symetre seems like a much nicer reel.
When I first got into inshore fishing, 6 years ago, I used the pflueger president and arbor almost exclusively. They never gave me a bit of a problem and were great reels for $75 each.
My brother recently got the 4000 series battle and after using it once, I have started to replace my pfluegers with them. The 3000 is perfect for trout and redfish. I have a couple of 4000s I can use now if I am going to fish for bigger redfish.
The best set up I have found in a long time is the Penn Battle on the new Kistler klx speck & reds rod. As I can afford to I am retiring all of my other set ups for the Penn Kistler set up.
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I just purchased one 3000 with 10 # Nanofil - great setup IMO.
Smaller Battles do NOT handle light braid and light lures well. Wind knots constantly with lighter lures. Great drag, so I use mine with 1/2 oz. or heavier Carolina Rigs.
I have the 8000 with 65 pp and and trevala rod. So far so good but it’s just the first season. Winched up everything we have tackled so far.
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